<p>Let me talk about money because you are under-informed about money. You can only borrow $5500 your first year and 27K over four years, so taking out loans isn’t going to pay the costs of attendance unless you go to a 4yr. school that costs no more than $25500/year. That is pretty close to possible, actually, but you’ll have to shop around. There are some pinned threads at the top of the Financial Aid forum that you should take a look at, esp. the thread that addresses inexpensive colleges.</p>
<p>You should first investigate your state’s public colleges for their costs of attendance. Run the net price calculator found on the Financial Aid page of each college. Check to see what the college says it would charge you (based on your family income). This is called the Expected Family Contribution or EFC. These EFCs are fairly accurate, with exceptions having to do with two-parent households, parents who own businesses, and parents with vacation homes. </p>
<p>Aid at colleges comes largely in two forms: need-based and merit. Your grades aren’t so high that you’d qualify for admission to those schools that are “100% meets-need,” that is, those that will meet the difference between the EFC and the costs of attendance; so you’re going to want to search around next for those schools that might offer good merit of the size of a full tuition scholarship. There are lots of schools that offer 15-20K in merit, but charge you 55-60K. Even with additional need-based aid that won’t help you. Again, you’ll want to search for these big merit scholarships in the pinned threads. You might for instance qualify automatically for a Presidential Scholarship at the University of Alabama with your grades and SAT. You’ll have to search around, and you’ll have to get the applications done soon.</p>
<p><a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.html”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.html</a></p>
<p>Btw, how does your SAT score break down?</p>